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2018 Volkswagen Golf GTI and R first drive: Hustle and flow

The Golf has always been fun to drive -- now the interior's fun, too

November 15, 2017

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The Volkswagen Golf has always been fun to hustle around back roads, from the first hatch that came out in 1974 to the current Mk. 7 that debuted in 2012. For 2018, the latest gen gets a hearty refresh, and we got to drive all the good stuff on a chilly day in the one part of southeast Michigan that features some rolling, rising and running European-style back roads.

The problem with the Golf lineup is that it skated on its fun-to-hustle reputation for too long. When all other manufacturers were using USB ports and touchscreens, VWs were still rocking auxiliary inputs and plastic buttons. But with the 2018 model, all of that has been remedied.

Big, high-resolution screens! Digital cockpits! VW can’t call its new gauge cluster setup that shows navigation, radio and tech functions a “Virtual Cockpit” because that’s Audi’s thing. It also can’t call its DDC with adaptive damping “dynamic chassis control” because that’s also Audi’s thing. They share platforms, but not names.

What else is new? Lots of stuff. The 292-hp, 280-lb-ft Golf R gets a new seven-speed DSG transmission; there are new LED headlights unique to the Golf family, a revised front and rear end, a stop-start system with the DSG, pedestrian monitoring, and all Golfs get VW’s sorry-for-the-diesel-thing warranty, which is six years/72,000 miles, bumper-to-bumper.

The GTI gets 10 more hp across the board on premium fuel, for a total of 220 hp and 258 lb-ft from its turbocharged 2.0-liter. Those new LED lights are standard on SE and Autobahn trims; all get larger screens, SE models get a standard sunroof, forward collision warning and emergency braking with pedestrian monitoring. Autobahn versions add park distance control, parking steering assist, lane departure warning and high beam control, as well as the warranty.

I hate to repeat myself, but the Golf GTI is so good, it’s just not as exciting as a decade or two ago when it was the sneaky, screaming, unrefined deal of the century. The Autobahn trim, the one we drove, gets all of the good stuff from the all-wheel-drive R including the electronically controlled, torque-sensing limited-slip VAQ differential and the brakes.

On the road, bashing the near-perfect, chunky, six-speed 'box through the gears I was struck by just how fun this car continues to be, even with all the refinements. The adage of slow-car-fast is as true today as it ever was. There’s a bit of torque steer when at max power, but I didn’t sense much on takeoff. The front differential makes the car bite and turn-in even harder than expected, with the front-driver tightening around sweepers on the gas as opposed to pushing out.

The clutch weight is light, but OK. It does catch high in the stroke, which is wrong for this type of car. It needs to catch low in the stroke for faster shifts; as is, it just takes some getting used to. Heel-toe downshifts are the same way -- the pedal setup isn’t perfect for it, but it’s passable. The brakes felt a little softer than I would have liked, though they had no problem bringing this car to a halt. The GTI Autobahn has the same brake setup as the R, according to VW, but I thought the R clampers felt much more solid under my foot.

The chassis is perfectly on the edge of too stiff. All body motions are tight and controlled, and I only winced a few times when crossing over harsh pavement. Normal bumps are muted in the cabin, which is surprisingly quiet all the way around. There's a teeny bit of wind noise, but that can only be heard with the radio turned off.

The power seats in the Autobahn put me in the perfect driving position with adjustments for both the front and back of the bottom cushion. I can’t tell you how many of us get angry when you can only adjust the height of the back part of the bottom cushion. You either get dead flat or falling forward out of the seat. We’re looking at you, Honda Fit. There was a good 8 inches of room between the front and back seats with my 5-foot-10-inch frame in front. The cargo area looks small, but you really don’t get the benefit of the hatchback without the seat down anyway.

Moving from GTI to Golf R, buyers get 72 more hp but just 22 lb-ft more torque. The R is even more fun to hustle around than the GTI, but is it $13,000 worth of extra hustle? I don’t think so.

As opposed to the golf-ball-inspired shift knob in the GTI, the R gets an unfinished carbon-fiber knob. Since the rest is the same, it has the same robust, solid feeling that the GTI’s shifter does. That means true, straight medium-length throws with just the right amount of notchiness in between.

The Golf R exhibits a little turbo whoosh on hard acceleration and a tad bit more lag than the GTI. The thing is, it doesn’t feel a lot faster. Maybe a touch. The brakes feel better, stiffer, even though VW says they're the same. Maybe they were just less worn in. However, with the brake pedal that caught higher, it made it even harder to get a clean heel-toe downshift.

The 2018 Volkswagen Golf R exhibits a little turbo whoosh on hard acceleration and a tad bit more lag than the GTI.

The new seven-speed DSG is smoother than the outgoing version at slow speeds, but when I first clicked the paddle it was a little slow to react. I was off the gas, but it still made me a little wary. Thankfully when the throttle is pushed to the floor, it swaps cogs nearly instantaneously.

Steering, suspension feel and ride feel about the same as the GTI. There’s no brake dive, no body roll and no lift on acceleration. Both the R and GTI feel as solid as a tar-soaked block of oak over ruts in the road. There are no squeaks, rattles or other sounds coming from the rear.

The new infotainment setup looks slick with a big central screen, hard buttons along the side and quick reactions to touch. It has a little sensor that knows when your hand is approaching, which pops up more on-screen controls. The digital cockpit (don’t call it virtual), works well too, with clean, easy-to-read info and cool graphics around the tach. Whatever model you get, we’d say spring for the new stuff. It makes this car feel damn near futuristic, years ahead of the last one.

Volkswagen puts this 220-hp 2.0-liter four in everything, and with good reason.

The Takeaway

So, here’s where the plot thickens. The GTI starts at $26,415; the Golf R with the manual starts at $39,785. That’s, like we said, about 13 extra grand. You do get the new-generation 4Motion all-wheel drive, but it’s not like the front-drive GTI is bad in the winter or hard to handle on dirt roads, at least with the right tires. And all of them, including the Sportwagen, which we took a quick side drive in, are fun to hustle along winding, tree-lined two-laners.

In U.S. sales, the Golf family is well down the list of compact cars, getting beat handily by VW’s own Jetta, the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla obviously, and the Nissan Sentra and Chevy Cruze. For chrissakes the Kia Forte sold almost double what the Golf family sold in the first three-quarters of 2017. That’s just wrong. Sure, buyers are probably a little snakebit by the last few years' diesel crisis, but that doesn’t mean VW still doesn’t make a ton of great cars for the money. And that turbocharged 2.0-liter the company puts in everything? It might be the perfect machine.